All the media are talking about the earthquake.
The earthquake that occurred in this city late at night on the 28th was only of magnitude three. An earthquake of this magnitude actually poses no harm to people at all. It turned out that the few tremors on the night of the 28th only knocked down some shabby houses built illegally in the suburbs, and the biggest damage in the urban area was the glass. Some people were injured when the broken glass fell onto the streets.
Experts from the Seismology bureau appeared in the media again, reiterating the reasons why there is no possibility of a magnitude 5 or above earthquake in the city, and hoping that the general public would not panic over the minor tremors on the night of the 28th, and that it would not affect their normal work and life.
The director of the public security bureau also made a televised speech, claiming that anyone who dares to take advantage of the panic caused by the earthquake to engage in illegal activities will surely face harsher penalties.
An emergency meeting was held in the city due to the earthquake, with top leaders from various ministries, bureaus and districts and counties in attendance. The sole theme of the meeting was how to stabilize public sentiment and maintain normal working order and living conditions. After the meeting, all units carried out large-scale publicity campaigns within their systems or jurisdictions. On the one hand, they organized the masses to learn about the basic knowledge of earthquakes and self-rescue methods when an earthquake occurs. On the other hand, they did their best to publicize the various reasons why a major earthquake is unlikely to occur in this city.
But these efforts still failed to eliminate the panic caused by the earthquake in the city.
All the shopping malls and supermarkets were crowded on the 29th, and long queues formed at the checkout counters. The goods being snapped up were mainly food and all kinds of daily necessities. Malls have used up almost all their reserves, and some have even raised prices on their own, but that still couldn't stop the rush of shoppers.
All the more open green Spaces, squares and sports fields in the city have been privately set up with shabby "earthquake-resistant sheds". When the urban management and public security departments were managing in accordance with the law, they quarreled with the people. As a result, the urban management and public security departments quietly withdrew, and the relevant leaders personally did ideological work on everyone, but none of it worked. The earthquake-resistant sheds are blooming in various shapes in the city, and many people make them their homes, looking as if they are going to fight a protracted war.
While government agencies and their subordinate units are still operating normally, many private enterprises and companies have had to temporarily suspend business at the strong demands of their staff.
At bus and railway station ticket booths, long queues for tickets stretch from the ticket hall all the way to the square outside. Many people chose to run away in the face of the impending disaster. They reached out to their friends and relatives in other places and, upon receiving promises, rushed to other cities to avoid the impending disaster. Among the exodus were many migrant workers who had come to work in the city.
In addition to the booming business of shopping malls and supermarkets, there is another industry that has also reached its peak - travel agencies. Those who choose to travel at this time are actually adopting a wait-and-see attitude. They are almost unselective about travel routes and mostly travel for about a week. In this way, the foreseeable disaster can be averted, and the leisure time can be used to enjoy the scenery and cultivate one's mind.
It was the end of June, and all primary and secondary schools had a two-month summer vacation, which made the school authorities heave a sigh of relief and secretly rejoice that they had saved a lot of trouble.
At this time of year, the campus would have been quiet. But this year it's clearly different. The school's sports field has become an excellent place for nearby residents to take shelter from the earthquake, and as a result, those earthquake-resistant sheds have also appeared in the school. Although the school authorities were willing to come out and stop it, it was a matter of public sentiment that even the urban police couldn't handle, and it was simply beyond the control of the school's security team.
Jett stayed at school during the holiday, and the place he visited most often was the audio-visual center. There was a network in the center, and he had friends on it. They got together and talked about all kinds of things, and a day could be easily passed. The school has become unusually noisy this year, which he finds quite novel. On his way from the dormitory to the educational center, he would deliberately slow down and often stop for a while when passing the playground.
There are all kinds of earthquake-resistant tents set up on the playground. The pretty ones are the small tents used for traveling. They are bright in color and don't take up much space. The ugly ones are those tents made of bamboo poles and covered with dark green tarpaulin. The noisy ones were mostly children and women. The children were excited about the change in their way of life, and the new friends were running and chasing each other in the middle of the tent, crying out to the sky. The women, who had nothing to do, were sitting in the shade, chattering about their daily lives. Before the meal, they would scatter to their own earthquake-resistant tents, and the aroma of food would waft from the stove by the door.
For the first time, the campus was filled with such a strong sense of life.
This morning, when Jett was still in bed, he received a call from Kai. Kai said he and Fiona were on their way to school. Jett was in a daze, remembering that the school was on holiday and the two of them hadn't gone home yet. But before he could ask, Kai on the other end told him to wait for them in the dormitory and hung up the phone.
Jett lay in bed for a while longer, counted the time they should have arrived, and then got up to wash up. After waiting for a long time, Kai and Fiona did not come, and he was hungry, so he thought of a snack stand outside the school to eat something. After leaving the door, fearing that Kai might get out of the way, I came back and left a note on the door.
Walking around the campus, there was another noisy scene on the playground. A few children from a certain house ran back and forth like crazy, ignoring the sun shining brightly, and a woman's scolding was heard in some corner, sharp and melodious. Jett laughed, bypassed the playground, and went down the concrete road that connected the dormitory building to the school gate.
Jett, who had a habit of getting up early, slept until now because he stayed up all night last night until nearly five o 'clock. The girl online, known as Forget-your-Worries Grass, stayed with him all night.
Forgetful Grass was a very understanding girl. When she first met Jett online, she was a bit timid and would reply only after Jett had said three sentences. As they got to know each other better, the lively side of her personality gradually emerged, and she could crack jokes with Jett occasionally. Jett's image of a small-town girl must have been full of yearning for the outside world, and the glamorous life of a big city should have had enough allure for them. But the performance of the forget-your-worries was beyond his expectations. She was very content with the peaceful life in the small town and loved the pastoral scenery that was independent of the mundane world. In such a society, there are few people who are content with peace. While chatting with the forget-wort, Jett opened the photo she sent and stared at the girl in the intervals of his conversation.
The girl in the photo stands in a lush vineyard, presumably in the morning, with a thin mist floating in the vineyard, and smiles as she walks through the grape trellis and the mist. A slender girl was dressed in a long white cotton dress that hung on the ground and long black hair. The girl had narrow shoulders and a slender waist. As the dress danced, it stirred up the mist, and the girl looked more ethereal. The girl was smiling, and a faint ray of sunlight fell on her face, adding a touch of brilliance to her fair complexion. The girl's smile was so quiet, like a snow lotus in the snowfield, that even the most restless heart would be instantly calmed when faced.
When Jett left the educational technology center later, his heart was filled with tenderness and warmth.
They had been chatting online for more than two months, and although they had never confessed anything to each other, a deep understanding had formed between them. When Jett came online, the person he most wanted to see was the forget-me-not, and the forget-me-not always showed up at the appointed time.
Just this tacit understanding alone is enough to intoxicate Jett.
They talked too late that night, and before they knew it, the sky had already turned pale. As dawn drew near, Jett left the teaching center and returned to his dormitory. The teaching center was on the sixth floor of a teaching building. As Jett went down the stairs, his footsteps echoed in the empty, quiet corridor, somewhat creepy. But Jett was very tired by then, especially his eyes, which had been sitting in front of the monitor all night, sore as if a heavy object had been pressed on his eyelids. All he could think about now was getting back to the dormitory and having a good sleep.
The dizziness occurred again, even before Jett could think about it.
First the darkness became bright, but it was undoubtedly still darkness, leaping and dancing, soon taking over Jett's entire world. Because he had experienced something similar before, Jett quickly leaned against the wall at the beginning of his dizziness and then slowly crouched down.
The bright darkness was spinning faster and faster, and the only feeling Jett had was that the world was spinning. It felt a bit like a throwing knife show he had seen in a park circus when he was a child. The actor covered his eyes and threw the throwing knives in his hand in succession. There is a large wheel opposite him, and another person's limbs are fixed to the wheel, which is spinning before the actor throws his throwing knife.
- The world is spinning.
Through the shining darkness, some scenes are faintly reflected. In fact, the scene is still composed of some darkness, but the darkness gradually has gradations of light and shade. It was a fire, a black fire. The black flames quickly swelled up and spread all over the mountains. Jett saw that the fire was burning on the mountain, which had a sense of deja vu. He struggled to find out where the mountain was.
The flames were about a person's height, and they were arranged in a very regular pattern. When Jett wanted to look even more closely, deeper darkness came, and he couldn't even tell the difference between darkness and light.
The wheel began to turn again, and the feeling of the world spinning dispelled the flames.
The flames gradually died out, and the bright darkness finally came to a halt.
Jett was still crouching in the corner, his eyes closed. He needed some time to confirm that the dizziness had ended.
Later, Jett lay on the bed in the dormitory, still feeling swollen and painful in his eyes. After each dizziness, he was extremely exhausted, as if the dizziness had consumed too much of his energy. So that night he had no time to think carefully about the flames he saw while dizzy, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
He saw black fire again in his dream. But the fire was so short-lived that he was startled by the sound of a bell. Jett answered the phone in a daze. It was Kai and Fiona.
Jett, walking in the sun, deliberately prevented himself from thinking about the dizziness and the black flames he saw in his sleep, because according to his past experience, many of the scenes he saw during dizziness had no reason, and it would be very hard and obviously unwise to have to verify everything in reality.
This summer's campus was different from every year, which made Jett's mood much brighter. Without these people seeking refuge, he would have to spend another lonely vacation alone.
After having breakfast at a stall outside, he was worried that Kai and Fiona had arrived, so Jett paid the money and went straight back to his dormitory. In the open space below the dormitory building, he saw Kai and Fiona carrying a bag and peeping over the road.
First, Fiona saw Jett coming over and pulled Kai. Kai was carrying a net bag with a shoebox in it. He drooped his head, looking listless, and looked up in the direction Jett had come. His gaze was also weak and powerless. So Jett thought something must have happened to this guy.
"Old Sha, Old Sha, why did you go and keep us waiting for so long?" Fiona hopped over.
Jett glared at her, then looked at Kai and said with a sullen face, "It's already the third day of the holiday. Why haven't you both gone home yet?" Jett knew that Kai and Fiona lived in two different cities, and it was customary for them to go home after the holiday. In fact, Jett had already guessed the reason in his mind when he asked, but as a teacher, he still had an obligation to ask.
Fiona giggled: "Old Sha, don't be so fussy. Is it easy to go back on vacation? Just give us some freedom." "I know it without you saying it." Jett snorted, "You guys stick together all day at school and don't want to be apart now that it's holiday." He took another look at the listless Kai on the other end and said, "I tell you, you mustn't get into any trouble, or you'll have to cry." Fiona gave an exaggerated nod and a heavy "uh-huh" in response to Jett.
Jett led them to the dormitory and asked on the way, "What do you want to see me for today? Could it be that you have no money in your pocket? I tell you, it's not easy for me to earn my salary. Don't have any ideas about me. If you run out of money, go home early. I'll sponsor at most one ticket for each of you." Fiona snorted disdainfully: "Old Sha, can you change your shabbiness to something new? We wouldn't come to you if we had no money to rob the bank." "Then why do you come to me when you have some free time and don't enjoy your time together?" "Don't we consider you a friend? We're afraid you'll be lonely at school and come to see you." "That makes me feel uneasy. You must be thinking about me again." Fiona chuckled: "Old Sha, you are so feared, like a frightened bird, like a soldier on every grass and tree." "Who has students like you? It's impossible to be afraid," Jett said, frowning. When they got to the dormitory, Fiona sat obediently on the chair in front of her desk, while Kai lay down on the bed, his head buried in the pillow, as if he were extremely sleepy and exhausted.
Fiona stared straight at Jett with her big eyes wide open as if she had something to say. Jett didn't ask, and finally she couldn't hold back and said, "Old Sha, let's talk about something. Can you lend us your kitchen?" It took Jett a long time to realize that the two kids had come all the way back to school just to borrow his kitchen to make something to eat? I've known these two kids for so long, but I haven't heard of any of them coming out of the kitchen. Jett, with a look of suspicion, glared at the smiling Fiona in front of him.
Fiona was awkwardly glared at by Jett. She smiled awkwardly again and suddenly turned to the bedside, dragging the listless Kai up: "It's better for you to talk to Old Sha about this. Don't make me take the lead in everything." Kai still hung his head, his hands dangling from his legs as if he hadn't eaten for days, but his eyes still carried a bit of rebelliousness. Kai certainly didn't care about Jett's scrutinizing gaze, but what he was about to say was obviously too difficult for him to bring up, so he hesitated for a moment, but finally said calmly, "I'm sick and I don't want to eat anything." Jett remained silent for a long time, and Kai heard him so clearly that he still didn't react.
Kai, looking at Jett's bewildered expression, pouted and said again, "I don't want to eat anything." Jett laughed, first with a smile on his face, then couldn't help laughing out loud.
Kai stood up angrily: "Old Sha, if you laugh again, I'll turn against you." Fiona also rolled her eyes at Jett reprofully: "Old Sha, it's your fault. We treat you as a friend and that's why we're telling you this. Can you stop being so giggling? You're so old and still acting like a child." Jett nodded repeatedly, saying "uh-huh" in response, but still couldn't hold back his smile.
"Alright, can't I just stop smiling?" " Jett said to Kai, "Since you don't want to eat anything, why borrow my kitchen?" Kai plopped down on the bed again, looking pitiful: "I don't want to eat anything, but you know I'm hungry? I'm so hungry to see dogs running in the street drooling, but, but I have no appetite at all when food is placed in front of me." Looking at Kai's listless and pitiful appearance, Jett stopped laughing, realizing that the two kids were really in trouble now. But he still couldn't understand what Kai was saying.
Fiona chimed in, "He doesn't know when he got this problem. He feels sick at the sight of food and pushes it into his mouth as if it were killing him. It's hard for him to eat something, but he's sure to spit it out in no time. Eating a little bit and spitting out a lot is really a big loss." "Why not go to the hospital when you're sick," Jett asked. Fiona said, "I've been there, but the doctors just overcharge and come up with bad ideas. They examined Kai's stomach and intestines and concluded that he was more normal than the average person, so there was nothing they could do. Finally, they prescribed some appetizers and told us to go out and walk around more often, maybe to come across something we wanted to eat." "So you go for a walk, and that walk leads to what you want to eat." This time Fiona didn't speak. Kai on the bed looked puzzled and said, "I'm not sure if I want to eat it, but I have to give it a try. Otherwise, in a week or so, I'll starve to death." Now Jett understood everything. He looked at Kai, then at Fiona, and finally his gaze fell on the shoebox that Kai had left by the door as soon as he entered. As if in response to Jett's gaze, there was a "pup pup" sound in the shoebox. Jett was startled, not expecting that the shoebox would be living.
Then Kai stood up and said, "Anyway, I've told you everything. We came here just to lend you the kitchen. If you want to lend it or not, give me a word." Jett said with a bitter smile, "You've said that, how could I not lend it?" Kai forced a smile, looked Fiona in the eye, and they no longer hesitated. Fiona picked up the shoebox, and Kai went straight out to the kitchen. Each of the teachers' quarters had a small kitchen, about five or six square, which Kai Fiona had been here for a long time and was very familiar with. Jett was a little worried about what the kids were up to, so he followed behind them.
At the kitchen door, he saw Kai, with a gleaming knife in his hand, slowly walking towards the shoebox. His expression changed at that moment, as if the lost spirit had returned to his body in the moment he grasped the knife. He became energetic and radiant. His hand, which held the knife, had bulging veins, clearly exerting all his strength. He walked slowly towards the shoebox, finally showing a greedy look on his face.
Jett was astonished at Kai's change at the moment and felt a chill rise slowly in his heart.
Over there, Kai had lifted the lid of his shoebox, and the knife in his right hand was raised high at the same time.
At noon, Jett Fiona and Kai were having lunch at the Three Gorges Restaurant by the Hualian Square. Jett loves spicy food, and the owner of the Three Gorges Restaurant came from the west and made every dish to Jett's taste. Jett and Fiona were glued to their chopsticks and never stopped eating. Kai, who was opposite them, looked at them pitifully with his chin in his hands.
Kai's stomach growled twice, and Jett felt a subconscious pleasure in his heart, chewing food even louder. Kai over there rolled his eyes and protested loudly, "Old Sha, if you keep doing this, I'll think you did it on purpose." Jett ignored him and ate even more joyfully.
Fiona, feeling a bit sorry for Kai, put down her chopsticks and sighed: "Kai, you are really a strange illness. It's fine that you can't eat yourself, but don't get any new sick. It's disgusting to watch others eat." Jett wanted to laugh, but when he saw Kai and Fiona holding back their little faces, he swallowed his laughter and said, "Kai, don't look so gloomy. After we finish eating, we'll take you to the market and see if there's anything to your taste. We'll buy it and lend you my kitchen again."
The three of them sat down at the Three Gorges Restaurant.
Jett asked Kai and Fiona how they were going to spend the holiday. They looked at each other and said nothing, but down there, their hands were clasped together.
Fiona said, "Kai is in such a state. Can I bear to leave him?" And Kai thought for a moment and said three words: "Find something to eat." Where to look for food? Jett thought the key point is that you don't even know what you want to eat right now. As he thought this way, a sudden chill ran through his heart. He thought he was facing a man who didn't want to eat anything. If he didn't want to eat anything, then what was the meaning of the world to him?
Jett shuddered, Fiona across from him looked bewildered, and Kai still had a limp and pitiful look. Kai was almost starving, and it was the fourth day, and he could only drink water every day. Even if he drinks water, he can only drink a very small amount.
There was only one thought in his mind - where to find something to eat?